Want to laugh? How Turks chose stability

Here is a recent chronology of Turkish political voting behavior which has, fortunately, ended chaos and brought about stability to the country:

June 7, 2015: Turks go to the ballot boxes and deprive the ruling party, the Justice and Development (AKP), of its parliamentary majority for the first time since it came to power in 2002. The AKP wins only 258 seats in parliament, 18 fewer than necessary to form a single-party government. 

June 8, 2015: Burhan Kuzu, now a MP and presidential advisor and then a senior AKP member, says: “The nation has chosen chaos. Now enjoy it.”

July 20, 2015: An Islamist suicide bomber kills 30 pro-Kurdish activists in the small southeastern town of Suruç on Turkey’s border with Syria. 

July 22, 2016: Apparently in retaliation, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or its affiliates kill two police officers in a southeastern Turkish town. 

July 22 – Nov. 1, 2015: A new spiral of violence between Turkey and the PKK kills about 1,000 people including hundreds of security officials. Martyrs’ funerals hit headlines every day. The scenes of coffins wrapped in the Crescent and Star are now a daily thing.

Aug. 31, 2015: Pro-government daily Sabah announces the AKP’s election slogan is: “Vote for Stability!”
Sept. 6, 2015: President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says (probably in reference to the chaos now obscuring Turkey): “If a political party had won 400 [MPs on June 7] or attained a number so as to build a [new] constitution the situation today would have been much different.”   

Oct. 4, 2015: Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu says: “Peace and stability is our primary vision for the Nov. 1 [re]elections.”

Oct. 10, 2015: Islamist suicide bombers kill more than 100 people in the heart of Ankara. This is the worst single terror attack in Turkey’s history. 

Oct. 30, 2015: Davutoğlu says: “Let’s go to the ballot box and vote for stability.”

Oct. 31, 2015 (just a day before the elections): Davutoğlu says: “Turkey will vote for stability.”

Nov. 1, 2015: The AKP wins 49.5 percent of the vote and 317 seats in parliament, a comfortable majority to form a single-party government.

Nov. 1-2, 2015: Erdoğan says that the nation’s will appeared in favor of stability in the reelection. Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan says: “The nation has chosen a powerful government for stability.”

November 2015: The powerful government sets out for stability. 

November-to-date: Violence in the southeast deteriorates, with several towns and urban neighborhoods remaining under curfew. Hundreds of thousands have to flee their homes. Security forces fight to “occupy” areas already on Turkish soil. There are more funeral ceremonies of our martyrs, almost daily, and more fighting. 

Jan. 12, 2016: An Islamist suicide bomber kills 10 German tourists in Istanbul’s favorite tourist neighborhood, Sultanahmet. 

Feb. 17, 2016: Kurdish terrorists kill 29 people in Ankara, just a few hundred yards away from the Turkish parliament building. Turkey, in stability, mourns.

March 13, 2016: Kurdish terrorists attack once again and kill 35 people in the heart of Ankara, injuring more than 125. Turkey, in stability, mourns again.

March 14, 2016: İsmail Rüştü Cirit, president of Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals, says: “Turkey must learn to live with terror.”

Luckily, on Nov. 1, 2015, the Turks chose stability over chaos. Turkey could have been an unlivable place if they had chosen otherwise. Except that chaos is the new stability. It is, indeed, very stable. An attack can occur at any moment, anywhere. 

Thanks to the Nov. 1, 2015, vote for stability, Turkey’s cities are now competing with relatively more stable and safe cities like Baghdad and Damascus.